Locked out

A labor dispute in Meredosia drags on

Kelly Street can barely be heard over the chorus of
his chanting comrades and the din of car horns honking in support. “Scabs! Scabs!” they shout. Beep . . . beep . . . beeeeep. It’s shift change at the Celanese Emulsions
plantin
Meredosia, where replacement workers taunt picketers by waving their
paychecks in the air. This summer, after six months spent trying to hammer
out a contract, Celanese Corp. locked out some 80 members of the
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and brought in temporary workers
from the South — “red states,” Street says. The former National Starch and Chemical plant, which
produces emulsions used to make paints and other products, employs 150
people and was purchased in late 2004 by Dallas-based Celanese. Union members were prepared to accept, albeit
reluctantly, the company’s best and final offer, but the
plant’s managers withdrew the deal, says Street, president of Local
484 of the Boilermakers. Celanese then said it would be cutting pay by $6
an hour and changing health-care and retirement benefits. Since then, neither the union nor a federal mediator
has been successful in bringing management back to the bargaining table. Local 484 is in the process of submitting affidavits
to the Illinois Labor Relations Board accusing Celanese of refusing to
bargain in good faith by engaging in regressive bargaining and using Morgan
County sheriff’s deputies and a private security firm to intimidate
its members. “They offered such a bad package that they knew
there was no way in the world we would take it,” Street says.
“Now they’re pissed because we got unemployment that they told
us we weren’t going to get. They’re upset, and their pride has
gotten in the way.”Street also says that improperly trained workers at
the chemical factory — who, he says he’s heard, are
“messing up each other’s work” — pose a safety
hazard to themselves and to the community. “[Celanese] wants to act like they’re
good for this community, and they’ve got people out there that they
just turned their backs on,” Street says. “They’re not a
good neighbor, and I don’t care what they say.” Officials at Celanese’s Dallas headquarters and
the Meredosia plant did not return phone calls seeking comment for this
story.